1, Too, 3 ... Go

There's a lot of be said about the upcoming Cultural Exchanges Festival 2015 here at De Montfort University. There's tons to see, plenty to do, some of it will be your cup of tea, some won't, but chances are, you'll be sorted for entertaining, culturally enlightening pieces.

You may have no particular fondness for certain guest speakers or poets laureate, but fear not for there's one event that everyone should attend.

As part of the Video Festival section of the Cultural Exchanges there is a one-hour video series entitled '1 Too 3'. It begins at 10am Thursday, 26th of February and ends at 6pm. It's on all day, so don't tell me you don't have the time! 

Also, as it's on a loop, you can turn up half-way through and just watch until it gets back to the part you came in at, so don't worry about being late (unless for whatever reason you decide to turn up at half-past 5...).

But wait, there's more! It's free! All you have to do is book a ticket, which you can do here. It takes place in the Clephan Building room 0.17 (Don't worry there are signs) so you have no excuse to not go! It's free, it's convenient, and chances are, it's gonna be good. :)

Ciaran Lovejoy

Student films - definitely not amateur

A still from... actually, it says in the image. By Sammie Williams.

I think one of the things that has struck me most about the Cultural Exchanges festival is the simply fantastic output from DMU's creative students. Whether it was the Fine Art department's Art Auction or Creative Writing's own showcase pieces the week has been bubbling with originality and vision. But the event that has struck me most was the 1 too 3 showcase, an exhibition of video pieces from across the university.

And quite frankly, the films on show were stunning. The pieces on display ranged from the playful intimacy of Red Wine Hangover to the unsettling surrealism of the Idiosyncracies dance video and seemed to cover everything in between.

What with drama, comedy, horror and a good dose of fantasy, the films showed eager young creators at their best - doing what they love and getting to show the end result to the public.

Two pieces really stood out for me.  One was Mechanical Angel, a strange mash-up between science fiction and a haunting music video.  It put me very much in mind of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and of course the Expressionism movement that inspired it.

 

The other was Sean Goldthorpe's piece that depicted a relationship in reverse - sometimes literally - from the unfortunate break-up to the couple's chance meeting. The cinematography in this piece was wonderful, including slow, lingering shots to set the rather gloomy mood and even using a black screen to divide the couple, reflecting the distance between them.

All the videos mentioned here are going to be on display again tomorrow throughout the day and are totally free of charge, I highly recommend checking them out at Newarke Houses Museum (10-6, Friday 1st March).

 

Lex Griffiths